Working with employee representatives

Employee representatives and the law

Employee representatives or recognised union officials must be consulted on the following:

• planned collective redundancies
• transfers of business ownership, eg if you buy a business or sell all or part of your business
• pensions, eg members of most occupational pension schemes have a say on selection and appointment of trustees, and the trustees must keep employee representatives informed of certain information on the scheme
• health and safety matters, eg involve representatives in your policy
• working time, eg for agreements on working hours

You must respond, explaining any ideas you have rejected.

Recognised trade unions have a number of rights. See our guides on recognising a trade union - the issues and rights to trade union membership.

The Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations broaden the situations where businesses have to inform and consult employees. These regulations began to be phased in from 6 April 2005, and initially require all those organisations with more than 150 employees to inform employees, if they request it, about the organisation they work for. Businesses with at least 100 employees will be required to comply with the ICE regulations by 6 April 2007, and organisations with at least 50 employees must comply by 6 April 2008.

Read about the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations on the DTI website. You can also find out about ICE on the Acas website.

The law protects employees and representatives involved in consultation and representation against unfair dismissal and other detrimental treatment. Ensure employees know their representation rights - you could include these in a contract or in a statement of employment terms and conditions. See our guide on the employment contract.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• The role of employee representatives
• Employee representatives and the law
• Redundancies and transfers
• Health and safety, pensions
• Information and consultation, works councils, working hours
• Representation of individual employees
• Working effectively with employee representatives

 

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